If you study this pattern, and the list of larger number names further down, you should be able to create your own chart going as high, and as small, as you'd like to go.
Write your whole number (or the whole number part of your number) into the boxes above so that the last digit of your number goes just before the decimal point. Then read each group of three digits as a regular three-digit number, followed by the number word for the group, if any. For example, the number 123,456,789 would be read as "one hundred twenty three million, four hundred fifty-six thousand, seven hundred eighty nine."
If there is a both a whole number and a decimal part of the number, we read the decimal point as the word "and".
To read the value of the decimal part of the number, we read the entire number after the decimal point, as if the values weren't there, but as if it were a whole number, then we read the place value for the last digit that we have in our number. I would read the number 12.34567 as "twelve AND thirty-four thousand five hundred sixty-seven hundred-thousandths." (Return to top)
Here is the entire chart of all the number names (I know of) in the American Numbering System. Note that the British Numbering System does not match the American system after the millions. Thousands and Millions match, but then the British system has milliards, billions, billiards, trillions, trilliards, etc.
Our numbering system is based on LATIN. The latin words for the various numbers give us the prefixes bi-, tri-, quad-, quint-, sex-, sept-, oct-, non-, dec-, which tells us the number of sets of zeroes after 1,000 in billion (2), trillion (3), quadrillion (4), quintillion (5), sextillion (6), septillion (7), octillion (8), nonillion (9), and decillion (10). Similar Latin words give us the rest of our numbering system. Prefixes un-, duo-, tre-, quattuor, quin-, sex-, sept-, octo, and novem-, appear to modify decillion to give us the numbers undecillion up to novemdecillion. I followed the same pattern to create the words unvigintillion up to novemvigintillion. I referred to Latin sources to create the number words trigintillion,
I have listed this chart by the number of sets of ",000" after one thousand. Learn this pattern for "bi-tri-quad-quint" and you'll have your first set of big numbers memorized:
number
of
000's
after
thou-
sand Name sample of number (or how to write "one" of it)
====--=========--==================================================
thousand 1,000
1 million 1,000,000
2 billion 1,000,000,000
3 trillion 1,000,000,000,000
4 quadrillion 1,000,000,000,000,000
5 quintillion 1,000,000,000,000,000,000
6 sextillion 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
7 septillion 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
8 octillion 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
9 nonillion 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
10 decillion 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
11 undecillion 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
12 duodecillion 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
13 tredecillion write 1,000 followed by 13 groups of three zeros
14 quattuordecillion 1,000 followed by 14 groups of three zeros
15 quindecillion 1,000 followed by 15 groups of three zeros
16 sexdecillion 1,000 followed by 16 groups of three zeros
17 septendecillion 1,000 followed by 17 groups of three zeros
18 octodecillion 1,000 followed by 18 groups of three zeros
19 novemdecillion 1,000 followed by 19 groups of three zeros
20 vigintillion 1,000 followed by 20 groups of three zeros
21 unvigintillion 1,000 followed by 21 groups of three zeros
22 duovigintillion 1,000 followed by 22 groups of three zeros
23 trevigintillion 1,000 followed by 23 groups of three zeros
24 quattuorvigintillion 1,000 followed by 24 groups of three zeros
25 quinvigintillion 1,000 followed by 25 groups of three zeros
26 sexvigintillion 1,000 followed by 26 groups of three zeros
27 septenvigintillion 1,000 followed by 27 groups of three zeros
28 octovigintillion 1,000 followed by 28 groups of three zeros
29 novemvigintillion 1,000 followed by 29 groups of three zeros
30 trigintillion 1,000 followed by 30 groups of three zeros
31 untrigintillion 1,000 followed by 31 groups of three zeros
32 duotrigintillion 1,000 followed by 32 groups of three zeros
33 tretrigintillion 1,000 followed by 33 groups of three zeros
34 quattuortrigintillion 1,000 followed by 34 groups of three zeros
35 quintrigintillion 1,000 followed by 35 groups of three zeros
36 sextrigintillion 1,000 followed by 36 groups of three zeros
37 septentrigintillion 1,000 followed by 37 groups of three zeros
38 octotrigintillion 1,000 followed by 38 groups of three zeros
39 novemtrigintillion 1,000 followed by 39 groups of three zeros
40 quadragintillion 1,000 followed by 40 groups of three zeros (quardragintillion?)
41 unquadragintillion 1,000 followed by 41 groups of three zeros
42 duoquadragintillion 1,000 followed by 42 groups of three zeros
43 trequadragintillion 1,000 followed by 43 groups of three zeros
44 quattuorquadragintillion 1,000 followed by 44 groups of three zeros
45 quinquadragintillion 1,000 followed by 45 groups of three zeros
46 sexquadragintillion 1,000 followed by 46 groups of three zeros
47 septenquadragintillion 1,000 followed by 47 groups of three zeros
48 octoquadragintillion 1,000 followed by 48 groups of three zeros
49 novemquadragintillion 1,000 followed by 49 groups of three zeros
50 quinquagintillion 1,000 followed by 50 groups of three zeros
51 unquinquagintillion 1,000 followed by 51 groups of three zeros
52 duoquinquagintillion 1,000 followed by 52 groups of three zeros
53 trequinquagintillion 1,000 followed by 53 groups of three zeros
54 quattuorquinquagintillion 1,000 followed by 54 groups of three zeros
55 quinquinquagintillion 1,000 followed by 55 groups of three zeros
56 sexquinquagintillion 1,000 followed by 56 groups of three zeros
57 septenquinquagintillion 1,000 followed by 57 groups of three zeros
58 octoquinquagintillion 1,000 followed by 58 groups of three zeros
59 novemquinquagintillion 1,000 followed by 59 groups of three zeros
60 sexagintillion 1,000 followed by 60 groups of three zeros
61 unsexagintillion 1,000 followed by 61 groups of three zeros
62 duosexagintillion 1,000 followed by 62 groups of three zeros
63 tresexagintillion 1,000 followed by 63 groups of three zeros
64 quattuorsexagintillion 1,000 followed by 64 groups of three zeros
65 quinsexagintillion 1,000 followed by 65 groups of three zeros
66 sexsexagintillion 1,000 followed by 66 groups of three zeros
67 septensexagintillion 1,000 followed by 67 groups of three zeros
68 octosexagintillion 1,000 followed by 68 groups of three zeros
69 novemsexagintillion 1,000 followed by 69 groups of three zeros
70 septuagintillion 1,000 followed by 70 groups of three zeros
71 unseptuagintillion 1,000 followed by 71 groups of three zeros
72 duoseptuagintillion 1,000 followed by 72 groups of three zeros
73 treseptuagintillion 1,000 followed by 73 groups of three zeros
74 quattuorseptuagintillion 1,000 followed by 74 groups of three zeros
75 quinseptuagintillion 1,000 followed by 75 groups of three zeros
76 sexseptuagintillion 1,000 followed by 76 groups of three zeros
77 septenseptuagintillion 1,000 followed by 77 groups of three zeros
78 octoseptuagintillion 1,000 followed by 78 groups of three zeros
79 novemseptuagintillion 1,000 followed by 79 groups of three zeros
80 octogintillion 1,000 followed by 80 groups of three zeros
81 unoctogintillion 1,000 followed by 81 groups of three zeros
82 duooctogintillion 1,000 followed by 82 groups of three zeros
83 treoctogintillion 1,000 followed by 83 groups of three zeros
84 quattuoroctogintillion 1,000 followed by 84 groups of three zeros
85 quinoctogintillion 1,000 followed by 85 groups of three zeros
86 sexoctogintillion 1,000 followed by 86 groups of three zeros
87 septoctogintillion 1,000 followed by 87 groups of three zeros
88 octooctogintillion 1,000 followed by 88 groups of three zeros
89 novemoctogintillion 1,000 followed by 89 groups of three zeros
90 nonagintillion 1,000 followed by 90 groups of three zeros
91 unnonagintillion 1,000 followed by 91 groups of three zeros
92 duononagintillion 1,000 followed by 92 groups of three zeros
93 trenonagintillion 1,000 followed by 93 groups of three zeros
94 quattuornonagintillion 1,000 followed by 94 groups of three zeros
95 quinnonagintillion 1,000 followed by 95 groups of three zeros
96 sexnonagintillion 1,000 followed by 96 groups of three zeros
97 septennonagintillion 1,000 followed by 97 groups of three zeros
98 octononagintillion 1,000 followed by 98 groups of three zeros
99 novemnonagintillion 1,000 followed by 99 groups of three zeros
100 centillion 1,000 followed by 100 groups of three zeros
One GOOGOL is a ONE followed by 100 zeroes.
One GOOGOLPLEX is a ONE followed by one googol zeroes.
(you can't write a googolplex, even in a million years)
All of the large number names up to vigintillion, and the names centillion, googol, and googolplex, come from numerous encyclopedias and dictionaries.
All of the large number names from unvigintillion up to novemnonagintillion were coined (created) by John Knoderer (webmaster (at) mazes.com).
What is a googol?
one googol is equal to ten, raised to the one hundredth power. It is written as a one followed by one hundred zeroes. This is a googol:
10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
What is a googolplex?
one "googolplex" is equal to ten raised to the googol power. If it were to be written out, it would be a one followed by one googol zeroes.
One googolplex equals 10 raised to the 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 power.
One googolplex is written as a one followed by 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 zeroes.
There is a fascinating article in Compton's Living Encyclopedia (AOL keyword: ENCYCLOPEDIA) that compares the American Numbering System with the British Numbering System. Once you get past eight zeroes, the names do not match. For example, a number followed by 9 zeroes is in the British "milliards" but the American "trillions".
In other words, the British Numbering System is completely different from the American Numbering System after the thousands and millions. Thousand and Million are the same, but then you see Milliard, Billion, Billiard, Trillion, Trilliard, etc.
However, we do have to give the British Credit. They are using the ORIGINAL numbering system, based on powers of a million. Over 200 years ago, the French corrupted the system, changing it to powers of a thousand. Personally, I like the corrupted version better.
TRIVIA QUESTION: If a "Billiard" is a one followed by 15 zeroes in the British
System, then does this mean that is where we got the name of the game BILLIARDS,
which is played with a cue ball and 15 numbered balls? If someone knows,
please let me know.
# *Power* of of a 0s Million Name samples of some of them ==--=======--================== 3 thousand 1,000 6 1 million 1,000,000 9 milliard 1,000,000,000 12 2 billion 1,000,000,000,000 15 billiard 1,000,000,000,000,000 18 3 trillion 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 21 trilliard 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 24 4 quadrillion 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 27 quadrilliard 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 30 5 quintillion 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 33 quintilliard 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 36 6 sextillion 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 39 sextilliard 42 7 septillion NOTE that if you divide the # of zeroes by six, 45 septilliard you have the number that relates to the word of 48 8 octillion the group. 2=bi, 3=tri, 4=quad, 5=quin, 6=sex, 51 octilliard 7=sept, 8=oct, 9=non, 10=decem, 20=viginti. 54 9 nonillion 57 nonilliard the names for number groups 60 10 decillion 3, 6, 9, 12, and every multiple 63 decilliard of 6 up to 120 came from 66 11 undecillion several sources, both dictionary 69 undecilliard and encyclopedic. 72 12 duodecillion 75 duodecilliard I followed the pattern of 78 13 tredecillion "million" to "milliard" to list 81 tredecilliard all other groups up to 123. 84 14 quattuordecillion 87 quattuordecilliard The prefixes un-, duo-, tre-, quattuor-, 90 15 quindecillion quin-, sex-, septen, octo-, and novem- 93 quindecilliard appear to modify the latin TEN (decem), 96 16 sexdecillion to make 11, 12, up to 19. 99 sexdecilliard 135 17 septendecillion 105 septendecilliard 108 18 octodecillion 111 octodecilliard 114 19 novemdecillion 117 novemdecilliard 120 20 vigintillion 123 vigintilliard 126 21 unvigintillion I followed the prefix-pattern 129 unvigintilliard used before -decillion and 132 22 duovigintillion -decilliard to create the names 135 duovigintilliard for 126 to 177, 21 through 29 138 23 trevigintillion groups of six. 141 trevigintilliard 144 24 quattuorvigintillion 147 quattuorvigintilliard 150 25 quinvigintillion 153 quinvigintilliard 156 26 sexvigintillion 159 sexvigintilliard 162 27 septenvigintillion 165 septenvigintilliard 168 28 octovigintillion 171 octovigintilliard 174 29 novemvigintillion 177 novemvigintilliard 180 30 trigintillion 183 trigintilliard 186 31 untrigintillion 189 untrigintilliard 192 32 duotrigintillion 195 duotrigintilliard 198 33 tretrigintillion 201 tretrigintilliard 204 34 quattuortrigintillion 207 quattuortrigintilliard 210 35 quintrigintillion 213 quintrigintilliard 216 36 sextrigintillion 219 sextrigintilliard 222 37 septentrigintillion 225 septentrigintilliard 228 38 octotrigintillion 231 octotrigintilliard 234 39 novemtrigintillion 237 novemtrigintilliard 240 40 quadragintillion 243 quadragintilliard 246 41 unquadragintillion 249 unquadragintilliard 252 42 duoquadragintillion 255 duoquadragintilliard 258 43 trequadragintillion 261 trequadragintilliard 264 44 quattuorquadragintillion 267 quattuorquadragintilliard 270 45 quinquadragintillion 273 quinquadragintilliard 276 46 sexquadragintillion 279 sexquadragintilliard 282 47 septenquadragintillion 285 septenquadragintilliard 288 48 octoquadragintillion 291 octoquadragintilliard 294 49 novemquadragintillion 297 novemquadragintilliard 300 50 quinquagintillion 303 quinquagintilliard 306 51 unquinquagintillion 309 unquinquagintilliard 312 52 duoquinquagintillion 315 duoquinquagintilliard 318 53 trequinquagintillion 321 trequinquagintilliard 324 54 quattuorquinquagintillion 327 quattuorquinquagintilliard 330 55 quinquinquagintillion 333 quinquinquagintilliard 336 56 sexquinquagintillion 339 sexquinquagintilliard 342 57 septenquinquagintillion 345 septenquinquagintilliard 348 58 octoquinquagintillion 351 octoquinquagintilliard 354 59 novemquinquagintillion 357 novemquinquagintilliard 360 60 sexagintillion 363 sexagintilliard 366 61 unsexagintillion 369 unsexagintilliard 372 62 duosexagintillion 375 duosexagintilliard 378 63 tresexagintillion 381 tresexagintilliard 384 64 quattuorsexagintillion 387 quattuorsexagintilliard 390 65 quinsexagintillion 393 quinsexagintilliard 396 66 sexsexagintillion 399 sexsexagintilliard 435 67 septensexagintillion 405 septensexagintilliard 408 68 octosexagintillion 411 octosexagintilliard 414 69 novemsexagintillion 417 novemsexagintilliard 420 70 septuagintillion 423 septuagintilliard 426 71 unseptuagintillion 429 unseptuagintilliard 432 72 duoseptuagintillion 435 duoseptuagintilliard 438 73 treseptuagintillion 441 treseptuagintilliard 444 74 quattuorseptuagintillion 447 quattuorseptuagintilliard 450 75 quinseptuagintillion 453 quinseptuagintilliard 456 76 sexseptuagintillion 459 sexseptuagintilliard 462 77 septenseptuagintillion 465 septenseptuagintilliard 468 78 octoseptuagintillion 471 octoseptuagintilliard 474 79 novemseptuagintillion 477 novemseptuagintilliard 480 80 octogintillion 483 octogintilliard 486 81 unoctogintillion 489 unoctogintilliard 492 82 duooctogintillion 495 duooctogintilliard 498 83 treoctogintillion 501 treoctogintilliard 504 84 quattuoroctogintillion 507 quattuoroctogintilliard 510 85 quinoctogintillion 513 quinoctogintilliard 516 86 sexoctogintillion 519 sexoctogintilliard 522 87 septoctogintillion 525 septoctogintilliard 528 88 octooctogintillion 531 octooctogintilliard 534 89 novemoctogintillion 537 novemoctogintilliard 540 90 nonagintillion 543 nonagintilliard 546 91 unnonagintillion 549 unnonagintilliard 552 92 duononagintillion 555 duononagintilliard 558 93 trenonagintillion 561 trenonagintilliard 564 94 quattuornonagintillion 567 quattuornonagintilliard 570 95 quinnonagintillion 573 quinnonagintilliard 576 96 sexnonagintillion 579 sexnonagintilliard 582 97 septennonagintillion 585 septennonagintilliard 588 98 octononagintillion 591 octononagintilliard 594 99 novemnonagintillion 597 novemnonagintilliard 600 100 centillion 603 centilliard
I don't know if the terms Googol and Googolplex are used in the British Numbering System. Since there were coined by American Mathematicians in 1929 and 1935, it is likely that they are not officially used in the U.K., but unofficially, I'm sure that some of them use it for fun.
You can find some of his puzzles on his web page at www.MAZES.com. John has written materials that can help people get ready for the Driver's License exam. You can find these materials at www.DriverExam.org.
John is a computer programmer, consultant, web page designer, teacher, tutor and puzzle creator. John telecommutes throughout the world and is available to work for you. Please e-mail (webmaster (at) mazes.com).
If you use information from a source like this in a report, you should give proper credit, citing the author as a source. In other words, you must acknowledge where you found the information and who supplied it. This is a matter of professional courtesy. Here is an example of a footnote:
Footnote Example:
* John Knoderer, [webmaster (at) mazes.com], "American
Numbering System and Place Values,"http://
www.mazes.com/AmericanNumberingSystem.html, September 10, 1997; revised May
21, 1999.